Defenseman Thomas “Tom” Pollock began his ice career with the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in 1942, despite having been born in Alberta. He switched provinces again the following season and played two years in the Junior Ontario Hockey League, first with the St. Catharine’s Falcons, and then with the Galt Red Wings. He moved up to the senior league in two seasons with the Owen Sound Mohawks , during which time he played five games with the San Francisco Shamrocks of the Pacific Coast Hockey League in its final incarnation. He suited up with the Owen Sound Mercurys for the next two years and began the 1949-1950 season in the Western Canada Senior Hockey League for five games with the Regina Caps. He then joined his final regular team, the Melville Millionaires of Saskatchewan, from which he was recruited to play with the Edmonton Mercurys as they represented Canada at the 1952 Winter Olympics At the tournament, he played in eight games, scored in two goals, and took home one of the last gold medals that Canada would see in the sport for the next fifty years. He returned to the Millionaires for two more seasons and retired in 1954. He remained a private person after this and was killed by a stroke in 1994, the first member of the team to die. As a member of his Olympic team, he was inducted into the Alberta Sport Hall of Fame Museum in 1968.
Canada